The Distillation

“Legalizing hemp nationwide ends decades of bad policymaking and opens up untold economic opportunity for farmers in Oregon and across the country,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said upon passage of the Farm Bill on Thursday, June 28th, 2018. Earlier this month, the Senate approved a nonbinding resolution recognizing hemp's "growing economic potential."

“Our bipartisan legislation will spur economic growth in rural communities by creating much-needed red, white and blue jobs that pay well. I’m proud to have worked with my colleagues to get the bipartisan Hemp Farming Act through the Senate. Today marks a long-overdue, huge step forward for American-grown hemp.” "For the first time in 80 years, this bill legalizes hemp. We forget, but hemp was widely grown in the United States throughout the mid-1800s," Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) said in a floor speech on Wednesday. "Americans used hemp in fabrics, wine, and paper. Our government treated industrial hemp like any other farm commodity until the early 20th century, when a 1937 law defined it as a narcotic drug, dramatically limiting its growth. This became even worse in 1970 when hemp became a schedule I controlled substance. In Colorado, as is true across the country--I have talked to a lot of colleagues about this--we see hemp as a great opportunity to diversify our farms and manufacture high-margin products for the American people."

Small doses of a THC compound found in marijuana have made old mice suddenly come alive with a “young brain, according to a study by a team of Bonn University researchers and colleagues from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, published in the journal Nature Medicine.

When asked how they had tested a mouse’s memory, Professor Zimmer said that four weeks after they implanted tiny pumps under the animals’ skin which constantly released the drug, the results were quite staggering ... "We basically couldn’t distinguish between the old and young mice" ... When asked if a young person could just walk away, smoke a joint and see his/her memory improve, he said that cannabis is a drug that [appears to have] the opposite effect on young animals as opposed to old ones.

“I don’t know a mom or dad in their right mind who is going to change what’s already working,” said Heather Jackson, CEO of Realm of Caring, a charitable group affiliated with Colorado-based CW Hemp, one of nation’s largest CBD companies. “I really don’t think it’s going to affect us much.” Jackson’s group estimates the typical family using CBD to treat childhood epilepsy spends about $1,800 per year on the substance. A GW Pharmaceuticals spokeswoman said the company would not immediately announce a price for the drug, which it expects to launch in the fall. Wall Street analysts have previously predicted it could cost $25,000 per year, with annual sales eventually reaching $1 billion ...

For their part, GW Pharmaceuticals executives say they are not trying to disrupt products already on the market. [However], the company has pushed legislation in several states to make sure its drug can be legally sold and prescribed ... And the company plans to continue importing the medicine, bypassing ... U.S. regulations on manufacturing restricted substances ... FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb suggested the agency would be scrutinizing CBD products with “uncertain dosages and formulations.” “We are prepared to take action when we see the illegal marketing of CBD-containing products with serious, unproven medical claims,” Gottlieb said in a statement. The FDA previously issued warnings to CBD producers that claimed their products could treat specific diseases, such as cancer or Alzheimer’s. Only products that have received formal FDA approval can make such claims, typically requiring clinical trials costing millions.

“Because the range and quality of cannabis studies—and just the variability of the data collection techniques—whatever you want, you can find support for it,” says Dr. Josh Kaplan, a postdoc fellow in neuroscience at the University of Washington who specializes in medical cannabis research.

Joelle Puccio, a nurse and researcher who sits on the board of the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance, points out that cannabis studies also often fail to sufficiently control for things like socioeconomic status. “With cannabis, when you look at poor people who have had generations of systemic oppression based on race or poverty or whatever, they do poorly,” she says. “When we look at middle-class people who maybe haven’t had much systemic oppression or racism, they do okay. And then when we look at rich people, they do great! It’s not really cannabis that we’re looking at.”​From the Article: When It Comes To Cannabis Studies, Trust No OnePublished by: Herb.coOriginal Link :https://herb.co/marijuana/news/cannabis-studies-research-griselArtwork Fair Use :By Coaster420 (California) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

“I think millennials and pretty much all drinkers are going to be excited to try beer with cannabis,” the former Molson-Coors executive says.

“What we’re going to offer is going to give a shot in arm to the beer industry,” says Villa, whose new label, Ceria, is expected to launch later this year, offering three different styles of brew: a light American-style lager, a medium-bodied Belgian white, and a heavier India Pale Ale, all infused with various levels of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana ... “We’re not talking about adding THC to vodka or gin,” [Canopy Growth spokesperson Jordan Sinclair] says. “We’re talking about creating a new category of product where the primary ingredient is cannabinoids rather than alcohol.”​From the Article: Green Gold: Corporate Titans Are Betting Big on Cannabis Beer, Wine, and CocktailsPublished by: VinepairOriginal Link :https://vinepair.com/articles/cannabis-beer-wine/Artwork Fair Use :Psychoslave - Own work CC BY-SA 3.0

The Senate needs to support the amendments to SITSA and SCREEN to exclude natural botanical plants and herbs.

Two of those bills, the SITSA Act (Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues Act of 2017), and the SCREEN Act (Stop Counterfeit Drugs by Regulating and Enhancing Enforcement Now) both attempt to stop deadly synthetic opioids from being shipped into the United States from other countries. But both of these bills contain such broad definitions of the substances covered under the proposed legislation they will actually ban natural botanical plants and herbs. It is critical that the Senate support amendments to exclude natural botanical plants and herbs.​From the Article: Call to Action to Protect KratomPublished by: American KratomOriginal Link :https://www.americankratom.org/call-to-actionArtwork Fair Use :Public Domain

“CBD is not the component that most consumers look for. It certainly has its merits… But the THC is what gives people that buzz, which is similar to the alcohol buzz that people get from beer, spirits, and wine. A lot of consumers of cannabis look for that buzz.” -Keith Villa (Creator of Blue Moon)

Before you start worrying about cross-fading, this THC craft beer is non-alcoholic... but only in Colorado, where THC is fully legal.

From the Article: Cannabis and the border: what pot-smoking Canadians need to knowPublished by: Esquire.comOriginal Link :https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/drinks/a19656076/thc-beer/Artwork Fair Use :By James Heilman, MD [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons

Len Saunders is an immigration lawyer practising in Blaine, Washington, a busy port of entry for British Columbians headed to the U.S. He said that while instances of Canadians being denied entry for smoking marijuana were once rare (he estimates he looked at only a few cases per year as recently as 15 years ago) they're much more common now. He said he now manages one to two such cases per week.

"When Trump talks about building a wall on the southern border, I see a wall on the northern border for Canadians because of marijuana. There's a brick wall going up on the northern border for Canadians if they answer truthfully whether they have smoked marijuana," Saunders said during a recent appearance at a Senate committee studying the matter. While some U.S. states have dismantled prohibition — including Washington, a border state — possession remains a criminal offence federally. And the U.S. border is, of course, governed by federal law. "Although medical and recreational marijuana are legal in some U.S. states and Canada, the sale, possession, production and distribution of marijuana remain illegal under U.S. federal law," Jason Givens, a public affairs specialist with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement. "Consequently, crossing the border with marijuana is prohibited and could result in fines, apprehension, or both."

From the Article: Cannabis and the border: what pot-smoking Canadians need to knowPublished by: CBC.caOriginal Link :https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/smoke-pot-us-border-1.4718571Artwork Fair Use :By Photo by and (c)2007 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man) [GFDL 1.2 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html)], from Wikimedia Commons

Like a barrier between forlorn lovers, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TBB) just won’t let the two substances unite [for now].​Province Brands [of Canada] is developing what could very well be the first legal beer brewed from cannabis. They filed a patent for the first beers brewed from the cannabis plant, and expect to see it released as early as Fall 2019. Here are some of the things they had to say about the pioneering work they are doing in this new frontier of “kind beer” ... While we are very happy with the way The Hemperor HPA turned out, we would love to brew this beer with the whole hemp flower that is currently classified as a narcotic despite its lack of psychoactive properties. A change in these laws could result in great benefits to agriculture, textile, food and cosmetic industries. Not to mention beer!

Earlier this month at a Capitol Hill press conference... Schumer [said] when we could expect his long-awaited bill. "It will be introduced shortly," he said briskly.

Advocates say the legislation could be be groundbreaking. They say it includes a new provision creating a much needed fund to help more minorities and womenenter the multibillion-dollar marijuana industry, while also funding research on the health effects of pot. They also say it gives the federal government control over marijuana advertising and it funds studies on impaired driving. These advocates are still trying to get Schumer to make last-minute tweaks before he drops his bill, but they're just glad his staff has started devoting attention to it ... Schumer's bill is shaping up to be a landmark proposal because of its promise to end the federal prohibition on marijuana. It calls for decriminalizing weed federally and allowing each state to decide their own policies ... Thus each state could still decide on its own to make marijuana use or possession a crime.

ECfES

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